Most of the working-class, especially those in the formal sector, find themselves caught up in an age-old web that is very hard to break – the vicious cycle of homelessness. Usually it is the dream of everyone to go to school, work hard to enter the University and graduate to get a good job and have their own home. However, as the usual practice of almost everyone, we move on to rent a home with the ambition that we will one day move into our own. Despite such a desire in all of us, immediately we get a job society expects that we move on to start a family. However, the heavily interlocking effect of the regular rent-advance demanded by landlords makes your dream as a worker to either buy or build a house for your family diminish and eventually get lost until you get to retirement age. Then, at retirement, some retirees decide to use their pension benefits to start an expensive building project they are unable to complete. When this happens, first, your money is locked-up and you are stressed with disappointment. This is illustrated by the case-study of Mr. Tutu who found himself trapped within the vicious cycle of homelessness and could not break the chain up to his retirement. During his working life, Mr. Tutu was advised that aside any family property he could benefit from, his dream of owning a house would come only through building himself or buying one -- either outright or using a mortgage. As a busy Public Servant, Mr. Tutu ruled out the option of building by himself since it would take a long time and he did not have litigation-free land or the capital to pursue it immediately. However, the harsh reality especially confronting the Ghanaian worker is the existence of 2, 3, 4, and 5-years rent-advance before you can rent a house within the City of Accra and Tema. This practice, wherever it came from, has remained the usual way of life within the cities and is part of the accepted culture of the City lifestyle. The landlords within the cities have consistently demanded these kinds of medium- to long-term rent advances that they know very well the tenants cannot find unless you go out to borrow. The question worth asking is: if indeed you go to borrow, where should you borrow from? Obviously, unless you work in a financial institution yourself, you will go the bank or non-bank financial institution to borrow. In fact, knowing that this old practice is a lucrative way to make money, all the financial institutions have designed their products with various names such as salary advance loan, executive loan, salary worker loans, and loans for workers with the Controller & Accountant General’s payroll. Case of Mr. Tutu A Civil Servant, Mr. Kweku Tutu working with the Ministry of Information, rented a two-bedroom house at Dansoman in Accra with a monthly payment of GH¢300. As the normal practice in Ghana, most landlords would rather collect 2 or 3 years rent advance than accept a monthly payments. After 2 years of renting the property, the landlord informed Mr. Tutu that he is increasing the monthly rent to GH¢350 and is demanding another 2 years rent advance. The reality is that Mr. Tutu for the past 2 years was not able to save because he has been paying the previous rent advance he borrowed from the Bank for 3 years since his salary was too low for a two-year repayment. Mr. Tutu is faced with another challenge whether to contact his bankers for another two-year loan or vacate the house and relocate beyond Kasoa where he can get a similar house for less than GH¢200. The problem with relocating to Kasoa is that it would mean he faces transportation problems since he does not have his own vehicle. Additionally, his three children’s schooling would be disrupted as they attend school in Dansoman. Mr. Tutu approached the Bank to enquire whether he could borrow GH¢8,400 as a two-year rent advance. The Bank expressed interest in lending to him at an interest rate of 25%, with an arrangement or processing fee of 2%. Therefore, the Bank advised that Mr. Tutu’s monthly repayment would be approximately GH¢546.88. This implies that Mr. Tutu would eventually be paying at least GH¢13,125.00 within 2 years to the Bank. Mr. Tutu did the analysis and realised he would be repaying a difference of GH¢4,725 to the Bank -- so he decided to relocate with his family to Bujumbura near the Central Region and commute to his office in Accra every day. This worsened Mr. Tutu’s performance at the workplace, since he has to use 2 or 3 commercial transport vehicles before getting to work each day. Due to his bad performance, his name was added to the redundancy list under the public sector reform programme. Well, you may ask why Mr. Tutu didn’t approach a Mortgage lender for a loan to acquire his own house at the time. Mr. Tutu’s answer was “no-where cool!!!” Unfortunately, due to the high house prices -- especially the ones built by the private developers in the city of Accra -- Mr. Tutu cannot set his foot onto the property ladder either. The worrying aspect of the situation is that even if he should try to use all his lifetime savings as a civil servant, he could not purchase a house during his working period as result of the wide disparity between his income and house prices as well as the effects of a vicious cycle of homelessness. Indeed, by the time most workers reach their retirement age they may have lived in all the communities of Accra since they have to move quite frequently due to yearly rent increases and landlords’ unnecessary demands. Effect of homelessness on productivity of workers • Low morale at work place: Most of the issues regarding productivity at the workplace, especially within public institutions, come from the effects of the vicious cycle of homelessness. Indeed, at the time most workers retire many are not able to either build or purchase a house of their own. • Potential motivation for corruption at the workplace: This is because a worker would be tempted to seek/demand a bribe before he/she delivers the kind of job expected to be done anyway; • Unwillingness to go the extra mile for customers: Because, in the first place, he/she is being threatened with eviction at home and so does not have the peace of mind to work let alone go the extra mile; • Lateness to work: As we saw in the case of Mr. Tutu; • Lack of incentive for good talent to remain at workplaces: They will be eager to move on as they see no future ahead; • Increased domestic issues: These are brought to the workplace and promote inefficiency. Ideas to break the vicious cycle of homelessness As we can see from the figure above, the grinding wheel of the high borrowing cost for rent advance will be difficult to be broken without an external force or Government intervention. More than two decades after private developers showed up to help the state in providing housing for workers; the housing situation has rather deteriorated -- with more slums as people can’t get places to lay their heads. Indeed, the private sector builds houses and – Hey! The target is Ghanaians living abroad and foreigners -- not ordinary Ghanaian workers. Another sad aspect of the whole situation is that houses are priced in US dollars. I don’t know whether you have taken the pain to observe current house prices being advertised in the newspapers, but you would be amazed how fast house prices are going up. Well, are house prices also gathered in the inflation-rate calculation? Because adverts in the newspapers are pricing a two-bedroom house between US$55,000 – US$75,000 at places even far from the city of Accra. The solution to Mr. Tutu’s case is complex and cannot be solved by just a single entity. There is need for a bold policy intervention from the state and local government to start investing hugely in the property sector. It is the responsibility of the state and the local government (assemblies) to take care of the peace, security and the general livelihood of the citizenry. Therefore, to break this cycle both the central government and the local government must start building flats or apartment buildings that will maximise space and help the Ghanaian worker to have a shelter over his/her head. Indeed, the private developers alone cannot cover the housing-gap while the local government is unconcerned by individuals struggling to find roofs over their heads. The immediate result of the lack of housing policies and intervention programmes is growth of slums in and round the cities. Clearly, the last inhuman action expected from local government authorities is to go and demolish individual structures and buildings with the excuse that they have built on “waterways” or encroached on government lands without offering them an alternative place of residence. The first question that comes to mind is where was the local authority when individuals started settling in smaller numbers? Do we have to wait for the situation to be out of hand before we step in with a big stick? Our leaders and those who are put into positions of authority should start executing forward-looking policies and not the usual reactive ‘fire-fighting’ type of policies we have been used to. Government proposal to solve the perennial housing deficits Notwithstanding the constraints in the housing sector, in 2010 the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing in Ghana, Dr. Mustapha Ahmed, put forward some proposals involving the formulation of a new housing policy with the strategy-aim of removing constraints in the housing sector through: a) Direct acquisition of lands by the Government, b) Establishment of a National Housing Fund, c) Long-term funds for a low-price housing mortgage scheme, d) Slum upgrading, e) Setting up a National Housing Authority, and f) Patronage of local building materials.